Count Iblis

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Iblis
Patrick Macnee as Count Iblis in War of the Gods
Race	Seraph
Gender	Male
Portrayed by	Patrick Macnee
Rank	Count
Colony	Ship of Lights
Affiliation	Darkness

Count Iblis (IPA: /kaʊnt ɪbli/) is an alien on the TV series Battlestar Galactica. He was part of the original 1978 series, and was central to the plot of the two-part episode War of the Gods. In that episode, he was played by Patrick Macnee. He has not appeared in the re-imagined series.

Contents 1 1978 continuity 1.1 Religious parallels 2 Comic continuity 2.1 Another god of evil 3 2003 continuity 4 References

[edit] 1978 continuity

When a Colonial Viper expedition from the Galactica consisting of Lts. Starbuck, Sheba, and Captain Apollo lands on an unexplored planet to investigate a massive explosion, they find a man named Count Iblis, who warns them away from the wreckage of a huge starship which had crashed on the planet some time before. Due to high radiation levels around the crashed ship, the Galactica crew is unable to explore it further.

Iblis is taken back to the Galactica. He proves to be charismatic and likeable, and quickly becomes very popular among the crew. However, several mysteries surround him - he is very elusive about his background, speaking only vaguely about being pursued by "enemies", he objects to having medical scans taken of him, and when he walks on the bridge nearby instruments go off-line. Nevertheless, Iblis' popularity grows further when he promises to protect the fleet from the mysterious Lights that have been following it recently and to lead them to Earth, which he implies he has visited, if he is given command of the fleet. To prove himself, Iblis moves some objects by psychokinesis and makes food grow on the farm ships, and offers to perform three miracles chosen by the Quorum of Twelve.

The Quorum quickly picks the first two miracles: to have Count Baltar delivered to them and for Iblis to plot a course to Earth. Hours later, Baltar delivers himself to the Colonials.

Baltar is shocked to hear Iblis' voice, which he claims to have heard before. He later realises it is the voice of the Cylon Imperious Leader. But for that to be possible, Iblis must have been on the Cylon homeworld thousands of yahrens ago, when the original biological Cylons were wiped out by the mechanical Cylons, and the robotic Imperious Leader was built to duplicate the biological Imperious Leader it replaced.

Meanwhile, Count Iblis' tricks are being uncovered. Apollo learns that there is a scientific explanation behind the sudden growth of the plants on the farm ships, and Adama remembers that the Colonials have latent psychokinesis abilities. Baltar had come to the fleet to discuss the appearance of the Lights, and that Iblis had nothing to do with it. However, it's too late, as the Quorum of the Twelve is considering giving Iblis the presidency.

Convinced that accepting Iblis' leadership will lead to disaster, Apollo and Starbuck head back to the planet where Iblis' ship was found. They are followed by Sheba, who is still under Iblis' spell, and Iblis himself, who teleports himself to the planet when he senses the plot. Apollo and Starbuck realise that the high radiation levels around the crashed ship were an illusion; they enter the ship and learn Iblis' true identity. Iblis and Sheba try to stop them, and the confrontation leads to Iblis trying to kill Sheba. However, Apollo takes the blow and dies in her place. Moments later, when the Lights appear, Iblis vanishes, swearing to the colonial warriors that he will see them again, in another place and time.

On the flight back to Galactica, Starbuck, Sheba and Apollo's body are taken on-board the Ship of Lights. The angelic beings on-board explain that Iblis used to be one of their kind, but was cast away for trying to rebel. His power is limited to those who freely give him power over them. By killing Apollo, who had rejected him, he had overstepped his rights, and so he must now "forfeit a payment of our choosing." The beings restore Apollo to life, and give the Colonials the coordinates to Earth.^[1]

[edit] Religious parallels

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It is heavily implied that Count Iblis is Satan. To begin with, his name (Arabic إبليس), is the name of the primary devil Iblis in Islam. It is said that he has "no power other than that which others freely give him over them", which is part of the Mormon concepts of Satan. The being on the Ship of Lights (which are associated with angels in Heaven) say that Iblis was originally one of them, but was cast out when he tried to lead a rebellion and get others to follow him. Likewise, Satan is, by some, believed to be the archangel Lucifer, who was cast out of Heaven for trying to lead a rebellion against God. Iblis is referred to by Apollo as the Prince of Darkness, a title commonly given to Satan. Finally, when he is shot by Starbuck, Iblis takes on his true, demonic appearance.

In a deleted scene from the episode, some of the dead crewmen in Iblis' crashed ship are shown. They exhibit devil-like features, including cloven hoofs and pointed ears.

[edit] Comic continuity

In the 1995-7 comic series take on Battlestar Galactica, the diabolical Count Iblis is indeed the catalyst of the Cylon empire having been taken over by their mechanical creations. Count Iblis deceived the last organic Imperious Leader, named Sobekkta, into a deal with the promise of power akin to his own. But instead, the Imperious Leader found himself transformed into a half-cybernetic being. Enraged, the Imperious Leader swore revenge upon him, firing at Count Iblis while he vanished away, laughing cruelly. As a result, the succeeding Imperious Leaders' voices all sound exactly like Count Iblis.

Because Count Iblis' actions resulted in the destruction of the organic Cylon race and the creation of mechanical soldiers who would threaten the safety and freedom of the universe, Count Iblis was arrested by his angelic brothers, the Seraphs. As punishment for his grave crime against all creation, he was forced into an amnesiac, non-corporeal existence during which his essence would remain trapped within the pain-wracked lives of others. He would only briefly gain full remembrance of his identity when such painful lives came to an end, suffering death. This punishment he would endure for a thousand yahrens — the exact time length of the initial conflict between the Cylon Empire and the Colonies.

For his deceitful actions on board the Galactica, Count Iblis was most assuredly going to be punished again, as the Seraph that spoke with Starbuck, Sheba, and the resurrected Apollo stated that he would be. However, the diabolical Count escaped, hiding himself "amongst eternity", as he related to Count Baltar. Reunited with the mechanical Cylons, Count Iblis would again wage aggression against the Colonial Fleet.

Count Iblis was now depicted as being bald, and of having supremely enhanced powers, above the level that he previously displayed. During an attack upon Baltar's Cylon squadrons by the Seraphs' ships of light, Baltar entreated Count Iblis to stop the Seraphs before the attack wiped out all of his base star's raiders. Iblis agreed, and with a gesture and a distorted depiction of his true, horrible face, he destroyed all of the attacking Seraph ships, proclaiming in the act: "Hear these words, Seraphs, and know them to be true: No one has dominion over me! No one!! Die, my brothers, and writhe in the fires of Damnation!!"

Count Iblis' next act was hypnotizing Sheba, who is now Apollo's wife, into killing Apollo. To do this, Count Iblis deceived Sheba into believing that Apollo had lied to her about the true nature of the remains that he and Starbuck discovered in the crashed ship on the planet where Count Iblis was discovered. Iblis told Sheba that the remains were actually those of her father, Commander Cain, and he transported her to the wreckage where they'd first met, and she looked inside and saw bodies she believed were those of her father and other Colonial warriors. When enough doubt had been sown into Sheba's mind, Count Iblis seized conrol of her will.

When Baltar's fleet overtook the Colonial fleet and launches a devastating attack, Apollo was confronted by the hypnotized Sheba, but she proved unable to go through with killing her husband; she then turned the gun on herself, but when Apollo stopped her the gun discharged into his chest. He was soon but reluctantly resurrected by John, a Seraph with whom Apollo has had previous dealings (the television episode "Experiment in Terra"). Apollo explained to John that the dead remains the he and Starbuck discovered aboard the crashed ship were not human remains, but those of deceased demonic creatures, the followers of Count Iblis who paid the ultimate price for their loyalty to him. Apollo also explained that his second death was now once again the result of Count Iblis' deceitful machinations, and that if John didn't return Apollo to life, more lives and souls (especially Sheba's) would be in jeopardy because there would be no one to stop Iblis' rampage - an indirect consequence of which was the death of Commander Adama, shot by Baltar. An armed Baltar was transported dangerously into Commander Adama's direct presence by Count Iblis' own power. After a brief skirmish in which the newly resuscitated Adam felled two Cylon Centurions and Baltar swiftly escaped, Commander Adama was mortally wounded.

The Colonial fleet, however, was rescued by the appearance of Commander Cain and the battlestar Pegasus, through the efforts of the Seraphs. Baltar escaped, and after another attack on the fleet was thwarted (during which Lieutenant Starbuck disappeared, sacrificing himself to stop the Cylon saboteur Ares), he was demoted by the Imperious Leader. Iblis, however, undertook his next act of vengeance by hypnotizing Apollo into shooting Commander Cain, for which Apollo was jailed. Count Iblis then freed the imprisoned Borellian Nomen (from the episodes "The Man With Nine Lives" and "Baltar's Escape") as well as human prisoners to launch a revolt against the Colonial government. Apollo escaped, where he was taken by Count Iblis and seemingly persuaded that every tragedy in his life (the deaths of his brother Zac and first wife Serina, the death of his father, the disappearance of Starbuck) was a result of his direct lack of intervention, and that the only path of his life is the path of overthrowing the descendents of the Lords of Kobol - i.e. the survivors of the Colonies.

After being returned to the world of the living, however, Apollo defeated Count Iblis using his father's medallion. This medallion carried a power that magnifies the psychic strength of the individual who wears it. Count Iblis knew this, and tried to entice Apollo into giving it to him. However, Apollo's strength of character and force of will prevailed and Count Iblis was twice wounded by blasts of psychic energy, which was enough to push him into retreating from the fleet. Apollo then used the medallion's power to undo the chaos created by Count Iblis, including restoring to full health the dying Commander Cain.

Amid the battle between Apollo and Iblis, the Cylons had transported a gigantic fleet of base stars across the universe to destroy Earth and the surviving members of humanity. This fleet was diverted away from Earth, however, by Baltar, who wished to lead the humans' destruction himself; as a result the Cylon in command of the fleet, Spectre (the television episode "The Young Lords") was deactivated by Imperious Leader.

[edit] Another god of evil

When they came to Earth, the Colonial Fleet found structures upon its surface similar to the ancient and decaying ruins found on Kobol. Within one of these structures were the bodies of a human male and female, who were kept in a state of suspended animation. Upon being revived, these two individuals identified themselves as Adam and Eve, members of the Thirteenth Tribe that left Kobol during its final days. Adam remarked that this expedition found itself under attack by an ancient "god of evil", whom he described as resembling Anubis.

The relationship between these two gods of evil, Anubis and Iblis, -- or if they were one in the same person -- was never explored, though the comic hinted that Anubis was a spiritual father of Iblis.

[edit] 2003 continuity

Count Iblis is not part of the 2003 remake of Battlestar Galactica. Although rumours continue to circulate within fan circles about possible roles Iblis could play (such as the "One God" of the Cylons), producer Ronald D. Moore, states that it is doubtful given the new theological format that he created for the reimagined show.^[2]

[edit] References